Chapter 22 TIKR Vol. 1 Chapter 5 Part 1

Chapter 5 – Beast of the Starry Night -The Origin-

Five years ago, struck by the Great Collapse, the Empire was a nation on the brink of ruin.

The land had been ravaged by monsters. Resentment festered among the people, the soil itself seeming to swell with hatred. The once-glorious nation had undoubtedly seen its sun set. —But it was not dead.

Heroes emerged from among the people. The guardians of order, later known as the Three Great Organizations, slowly began to cleanse the Empire. The scars of the monster disaster ran deep, and the nation had yet to reclaim its former glory. But now, five years later, the country once called broken was beginning to be spoken of as a nation reborn.

This was the future that the Empire’s former symbols of strength—the twelve Imperial Knights—had risked their lives to protect from the Great Collapse. We must never let the torch passed down from those past guardians be extinguished—

“—May the flame of the Empire’s prosperity burn ever bright.”

In the Grand Garden, the same venue where <Noah> had performed their concert earlier that day, a prayer was offered under the watchful eyes of the starry night sky. Princess Eilfina delivered the preceding vow as her closing remarks for the ceremony. Thunderous applause erupted. The crowd was ecstatic. The swift elimination of the Serpents of the Sordid Garden during the ceremony had lent undeniable weight to the Princess’s words. The Empire would surely become better, stronger. Everyone believed in a brighter future, their hearts filled with hope.

—Until a deafening CRASH shattered the cheers.

Even Kei, standing right beside the Princess as her guard, couldn’t react in time. A mass of iron plummeted from the sky. It slammed into the ground, gouging the earth and sending dirt flying. A humanoid figure, clad head-to-toe in pitch-black armor, stood where it landed. A greatsword nearly as tall as itself was strapped to its back. Though rugged, its appearance was undeniably knightly. But knights, by definition, serve a nation. Therefore, this being was no knight. Because the Black Knight drew its sword and pointed the tip directly at Princess Eilfina.

“Your Highness!”

Kei’s face went pale, but she couldn’t move closer. The blade lightly grazed the Princess’s throat, slicing the porcelain skin. A single drop of red blood trickled down, staining her collar. A clear warning. Kei gasped. Screams erupted from the crowd.

“—Hoh. Not even a single cry. Quite courageous.”

The Black Knight sounded impressed. Eilfina, despite the blade at her throat, met its gaze unflinchingly.

“The Memorial Ceremony has just concluded. If you wished to attend, shouldn’t you have arrived a little earlier?”

“My apologies. I am aware I’m an uninvited guest. I thought it only polite to wait until the closing.”

The Black Knight chuckled, seemingly amused by the Princess’s defiance. Kei, trapped and unable to act, frantically tried to figure out what was happening. Where did he come from!? How did he get in!? This black-armored knight… likely the Serpent agent Senpai had mentioned. The large-scale dispelling should have neutralized all Serpents within the castle. Did he appear after the concert? No, security was airtight. The magic barrier made teleportation impossible. All entrances were heavily guarded. Even if he’d broken through by force, the hundred-plus surveillance tools… he should have been detected instantly! How…!?

“…?”

Just then, a magic butterfly fluttered past Kei’s eyes. It danced obliviously through the tense air and landed gently on the Black Knight’s shoulder pauldron. It was one of the surveillance devices, meant to detect intruders. It measured the target’s magic waveform and compared it to the registered database. If there was no match, alarms would blare throughout the castle. The butterfly, following its programming, scanned the Black Knight’s magic. It announced the result in its synthesized voice.

『—Registered magical waveform confirmed. Identification… Imperial Knight, 4th Seat, 【Lion Eater】. Please enjoy the ceremony.』

“……Huh?”

Someone in the crowd let out a choked sound of disbelief. The stunned silence was broken by the Black Knight himself.

“An old name. It almost brings back memories.”

“—【Lion Eater】… The Fourth Seat… of the Imperial Knights…?”

Kei repeated the name numbly. The magical tools didn’t lie. A magic waveform was a unique, unchanging biological signature, used specifically for identification. The name it had announced… had to be true.

“—You’re alive!”

A man pushed excitedly through the crowd. It was the same nobleman who had confronted Arl and Kirsi earlier about the Imperial Knights.

“We all thought you died in the Great Collapse…! No, I knew you were alive! I believed! A hero like you couldn’t possibly fall in battle!”

“…Hoh? You know of me?”

“Of course! Your bravery surpassed even the lions of the battlefield! The great hero who devoured the Empire’s enemies with swordsmanship alone! The renowned Sword Emperor, 【Lion Eater】! If you survived, why didn’t you show yourself!?”

The nobleman rushed towards the Black Knight, his words tumbling out, filled with undisguised admiration.

“No, never mind. You must have had your reasons. But this entrance… even as theatrics, isn’t it a bit tasteless—”

Kei tried to shout a warning, but it was too late. The man’s words were cut short as blood erupted from his chest.

“Just like that Count… the quality of mages has certainly declined.”

The Black Knight didn’t even glance at the collapsing corpse. He flicked the blood from his greatsword.

“Mages, before being nobles, are supposed to be warriors who fight monsters. What fool carelessly approaches an enemy?”

The return of a dead hero. And his immediate, brutal act of murder. The crowd was frozen in horrified silence. Only Kei, knowing Arl’s past, could force words out through her constricted throat.

“…I should have reviewed the registered waveform list more carefully. If you truly are 【Lion Eater】, then the detection magic is useless. Our security meant nothing.”

“It was rather anticlimactic. If he were here, it might have been a challenge… but he’s likely preoccupied with our associates elsewhere right now. Don’t get your hopes up.”

Kei knew instantly who the Black Knight meant. Ever since the intruder appeared, she’d been desperately scanning the venue for her beloved Senpai. But he was nowhere to be found. If the enemy’s words were true, there were other ambushers, and Arl was currently tied up dealing with them. All she could do was buy time.

“You called him an ‘enemy,’ 【Lion Eater】. How do you explain this situation?”

“Explain? I have no intention of begging for forgiveness. I stand here not as an Imperial Knight, but as a member of the Serpents of the Sordid Garden.”

As he spoke, the Black Knight removed his helmet. Since Imperial Knights concealed their identities, revealing his face meant nothing to the public. However, a collective gasp rippled through the crowd. Not because of his face, but because of the sinister, demonic horns sprouting from his forehead.

“The curse of monsterification…!”

“Indeed. It is only natural for one who belongs to the Serpents. Though… this curse has been eating away at me for five years now.”

Five years. The number held heavy significance in the Empire. The Great Collapse. The ‘deaths’ of the Imperial Knights. The day Arl faked his death and fled the Empire. A horrifying suspicion began to form in Kei’s mind. The monster’s curse is inflicted by being wounded by a monster. During the Great Collapse… who fought the monsters directly…?

“You asked why I didn’t show myself if I was alive,” the Black Knight said, addressing the now-dead nobleman’s earlier question – a question likely shared by everyone present. “It is because I was cast aside. The Imperial Knights died in the Great Collapse? No. What awaited us upon our return from the battlefield was an imperial decree from His Majesty the Emperor—the execution of the Imperial Knights.”

“Execution…!?”

Kei knew part of the truth from Eilfina – that Arl’s death was faked, that he was forced to flee. But she never knew the full story.

“Isn’t that right, Third Princess?”

The Black Knight prompted, and all eyes turned to Eilfina. The Princess narrowed her eyes, glaring at the fallen hero.

“【Lion Eater】, you are—”

“Lies are a poor choice at this stage. Attempt to deceive, and I will slaughter everyone here.”

The nobleman’s blood continued to pool on the ground, a stark reminder that his threat was real.

“…It is true.”

Eilfina finally spoke, her voice heavy, revealing the truth of what happened five years ago after the Great Collapse.

“The Imperial Knights poured all their strength into sealing the monster… the Origin… that attacked the capital. But in doing so… they were cursed by the Origin.”

The curse of the progenitor, the king of monsters.

“Unlike a normal curse, the Origin’s was incredibly potent, resisting all attempts at magic dispelling. It progressed slowly, but inevitably… transforming its victims into monster slaves. There was no way to stop it. Therefore—”

Eilfina’s voice was filled with pain.

“—they were executed. Officially, they were declared killed in action. But behind the scenes… they were killed by the Empire.”

“Why…? How could they…!”

Kei cried out, horrified. If what the Princess said was true, then her own beloved Senpai should have met the same fate.

“They say the strength of a monster depends on the host body,” the Black Knight sneered, taking over from the faltering Princess. “A child or an old person becomes a weak beast. But a mage, a knight, a warrior… they become powerful monsters.”

“…A knight… as the host…”

“Now, imagine us, the Imperial Knights, hailed as the Empire’s strongest… what kind of abominations would we become? But the Empire couldn’t possibly tell the public the truth: ‘We have to kill the cursed Imperial Knights before they turn into monsters.’“

Seeing the Princess’s pained silence, Kei knew his words were true.

“You hid the truth! You covered our graves with false glory, declaring us heroes fallen in battle, while burying us in darkness! We were just symbols, weren’t we? Replaceable parts!”

The Black Knight spread his arms wide, looking around the garden, his gaze lingering on the leaders of the Three Great Organizations.

“And indeed, our successors appeared. The Empire’s flame was passed on to the next generation. Wonderful. Truly, truly wonderful—”

His low chuckle seemed to rumble up from the depths of the earth. The one who had fought for the Empire’s future, only to be cursed and erased, asked the silent crowd,

“—Does such an ending deserve to be permitted?”

The symbols of the Empire’s strength, legends even in supposed death. Now, one stood before them, eyes burning with hatred, voice thick with resentment.

“We dedicated our lives to the Empire, and our reward was, ‘You’re cursed, so please die’? Unforgivable! I will never forget that day, escaping execution, the fever from the festering wounds burning under the rain, the agony in my cursed brow!”

“…And for that, you threw your lot in with the Serpents?”

“Where better to turn when taking up arms against the Empire? Thanks to this curse,” he tapped the horn on his forehead, “they welcomed me with open arms.”

The monsterification was progressing. Eilfina frowned.

“It’s advancing. You don’t have long, do you?”

“No. Soon, I will become a monster. It would be amusing to become the very calamity you feared and destroy this country… but that would be boring. You denied us. You denied the Imperial Knights. That is why I am here. As an apostle of the Serpents, I will release the King of Monsters imprisoned in this land. I will fulfill the vengeance of 【Lion Eater】, the former Imperial Knight.”

“…Don’t tell me.”

“The calamity sleeping beneath this land… We sealed it with our own hands. Do you truly believe I cannot unseal it?”

“Your Highness, get away from him!”

The Princess and Kei realized his intention, but it was too late. The avenger raised his greatsword and plunged the tip into the earth.

“Now—the time for vengeance has come!”

With a clear, bell-like KLANG, the ground cracked. Black mist erupted from the fissures. The earth buckled and split open as something massive clawed its way out, shattering the ground, roaring its birth cry into the night. —A giant arm thrust towards the starry sky. Taller than the castle spires, its body shrouded in swirling miasma like scales, obscuring its full form. Bathed in moonlight, the Origin, the progenitor of monsters, the master of the Great Collapse, was returning to the world.

Kei, knocked off her feet by the tremor, could only stare in horror.

“—Open. White Score: First Movement, First Verse—♪”

A magical chant cut through the chaos. The ground beneath the Black Knight suddenly blazed with light. The light spread, sealing the fissures, pushing back against the emerging monster. Tch. The Black Knight clicked his tongue in annoyance. The next instant, the raw power of the unsealed monster clashed with the resealing magic. A blinding white flash scorched Kei’s vision, followed by a shockwave that slammed into her, lifting her off the ground. Flying… going to shatter… Just before she lost consciousness, Kei dimly felt strong arms catch her, saving her from the impact.